If you ever find yourself at Disney World, check out the Carousel of Progress in Tomorrowland. Walt was a hardcore futurist and designed this one himself for the 1964 world's fair. It starts in the year 1900 and moves forward 20 years at a time with each time period marveling at how wonderful things are and wondering how people possibly lived without all the modern conveniance.
I was born in 1976, and I feel rather fortunate to have grown up while computers were growing up at the same time. As a child, I had an Apple ][e. Around 8th grade, we got a 386 for Dad's business, in high school, I bought my own 486 ($1400 - money I earned working at Burger King). At the same time, I went from Apple BASIC to QuickBASIC to Turbo C/C++ and MASM. The biggest challenge back then was finding books or teachers or anyone who knew more than I did at the time about programming. In the early-mid '90s, a Barnes and Noble opened up near enough for me to get to, and they had 2 whole shelves of computer books.
In any event, I seriously wonder how modern kids pick up programming, given the learning curve today. It seemed so easy to start 25 years ago, taking a BASIC listing and deconstructing what each line did. I think if you were to take away the modern electronics and give kids an Apple ][ or C64, you'd quickly find out who the natural programmers are. The rest would just go outside and play football instead.
Very well, C# (a language) is a very excellent language. It can be used for server side scripting, just like PHP. Same with Java. However, it's generally assumed that your language of choice is going to be couple with some sort of framework. The great thing about Java and C# is that the skillset is easily transferable to areas outside of writing web pages. This is very important for me, as my application is more than a web page. It's an ecosystem of several applications that work together; emailing reports, collecting data, managing billings, etc. It allows me to reuse code and have one data access layer for all of my programs ensuring that they access the database in a uniform fashion. I don't know if it's possible, but I certainly don't know anyone personally who is writing desktop LOB applications using PHP.
On a related note, Silverlight is an awesome platform. I won't touch it or use it because I don't think it has a future, which is unfortunate. It's certainly easier, faster, and more elegant that writing ASP.NET web pages. Frankly, web development sucks, and I look forward to a day (and I'll probably be retired by then) when there's a good universal client/server paradigm that's not based around HTML and JavaScript.
The guys making > $50k are not the guys comming to your house hooking up the cable. They're the guys hooking up and dealing with the CO equipment and other pieces of provider side equipment. The guys coming to your house are typically classified as low-voltage cabling installers. In most states, they don't need a license for that. In any event, I haven't had a phone/cable guy come inside my house in over a decade. There's just no need for that.
Well, of course. They still support it, they just don't want to announce that they support it and all the bad press, gamer retaliatation and vigilante attacks (ie., anonymous) that that implies, so they hide behind an industry trade group.
Oh, no, I like stadium seating. It's great, especially when I'm taking my kid to a movie. My point is that most people will choose a cheaper ticket and concession price over certain amenities. Clearly my viewpoint is based on the rigorous scientific research of me casually observing behavior at a few local cinemas. It would be nice to develp a calibration curve comparing attendance with ticket/concession prices, travel distance and other factors. Absent that, it's pretty clear that people will go to a rundown 8 screen theater if it means saving $2.50 on a ticket and $5 on a concessions.
And I'm not even going to get into the economics of second-run theaters.
So they have to pay an extra $3, wear glasses they shouldn't need to see a film where the picture is not as bright as it could be? Instead of special glasses, just cover one lens with a piece of paper. You can put me into the crowd that hates 3D (foreground images split apart on me. my eyes hurt after about 20 minutes).
Also, Ebert may be right here. Locally, we have a theater that has $6 prime time seating ($4 off peak), comparatively cheap popcorn (still pricey, but half the price of other theaters), no stadium seating, no 3D, and it's always packed. It's the only place I go, and I buy the popcorn there just on principle.
I'm not sure who the OP is getting his DSL service from, but it's probably not Century Link (formerly Qwest). From the beginning, Qwest offered a choice of ISPs with their DSL service. The newer, higher speeds (anything above 1.5mbps) only goes over MSN. This is a consequence of the DSL equipment that they are now using, not any overt attempt to screw over their customers (that's just a happy bonus to them). In any event, I had a a static IP with Century Link and MSN. It's not advertised, and it was a bit of work to find it and set it up, but it's there (and it only cost me an extra $5/month). There are a few stray pockets in the Twin Cities that are served by other phone companies, so the OP may be correct, but I'm kind of doubtful. Now, I did switch off from CenturyLink/MSN for something cheaper and faster as of about 2 months ago, but at that time, the static IPs were still available.
It's called multitasking. Electronic devices have been doing this since the 1960s. There is absolutely nothing special here. I've been making VoIP calls on my computer since the mid 90s. Guess what? I could switch to another program without breaking the call. The fact that this all fits in my pocket now is nothing special. Oh, but this takes input from a touchscreen. I guess that's different and no one else is making those.
When I think back on the many great accomplishments of this man, there is no doubt that he will have the longest and greatest obituary ever written. A short exceprt:
The only man known to have shot 18 consecuative holes-in-one during a round of golf. In 2007, Kim Jong Il led the New England Patriots to a perfect 19-0 NFL season. In addition to his sporting exploits, Il was a noted Internet expert. Known for releasing the worlds first internet worm. His fame exploded when he devised a method of breaking public key encryption. He is believed to be the sole author of the Windows Vista operating system.
Answer this: what, exactly, do you think Apple is afraid of? If the Galaxy Tab were so dangerous, you'd expect demand for it to be phenomenal, right? Well, reality doesn't quite agree here.
Your assertions are so thoroughly contradicted by reality, they appear little more than the ravings of a lunatic.
Apple is afraid that the tablet market will mimic what happened in the smartphone market. Sure, there are plenty of iPhone loyalists, but Android has taken over as the top platform. The same thing appears to be happening in tablets. Apple was there with a premium product at the beginning, but the Android imitators are catching up rapidly. What differentiates phones at tablets from the iPod market is that phones and tablets don't get the same benefit from the iTunes ecosystem. This brings us back to the 7" tablet market, the Fire has everything that people want: Facebook, Netflix, and periodicals and shopping from Amazon. Amazon provides for tablets what iTunes provides for music, and generally at lower cost.
The issue in this case, however, is that there is a vicarious liability for publishing the untrue statements of an anonymous source. If you read the rest of the judge's decision, it continues by stating that her status as a journalist is irrelevant because the Oregon shield law explicitly does not protect sources in libel and defamation civil suits. Whereas if she gives up her source, she's off the hook for libel, unless she knew prior to publication that her source was lying. Really, the judge was sloppy here for making a ruling outside of the scope required for the case.
No, the defense against libel would be to have it proven that what she wrote was untrue.
And no, she shouldn't go down for libel, unless it can be proven that what she wrote was untrue, and that she knew it was untrue before writing it. Simply saying, "That's libel!" should NOT be justification enough to require someone to reveal their sources.
This being a civil case, however, the standard of proof is perponderance of the evidence, which only requires the plaintiff to show that she probably knew she was publishing something untrue. Also, she's representing herself, and as the old addage goes, probably has a fool for a client.
Then you probably need a better antenna. In most cities the broadcast towers are all clustered together allowing for directional antennas to work. I have, however, lived places where they were scattered all over town (Richmond, VA) and it was impossible to get good reception on more than 3 stations at a time.
In any event, I get by on broadcast and Netflix. $10/month isn't bad.
It's a good framework, particularly for the kinds of things I do. In addition to the website, I've got an assortment of server processes for processing incomming information and there are several library collections we've developed that get used across the board..NET, I think, is particularly useful if you need more than a web app.
Agreed. Helpdesk is also the easiest place to get highered. From there, it's usually a matter of getting yourself attached to the type of work you really want to do -- networking, development, DBA, whatever. There are limits to what you can learn being self taught. You can run a server at home, but you don't have a SAN. You can use source control by yourself, but it's very different working on a team. And lastly, formal classwork will introduce you to important concepts that you would never get around to learning on your own. I started out self taught, helpdesk, picked up some Microsoft certifications, started doing some programming for my department, and got about halfway through a CS degree before my kid was born and it's kind of stalled out since then, but I'm doing quite well.
It would be more than adequate for most of the servers in my rack. Granted, I'm moving in the direction of virtualization, but I need to get a better storage infrastructure. That brings me to another question, where does one go to get an updated education on server/stoage technologies? I'm primarily a programmer, but being a small shop, I do everything, and my server knowledge is kind of lagging behind.
I'm not terribly worried. My kid is 8. She's a gamer. She loves getting email from grandma. And if she spends too much time in front of the screen, she eventually will get up and find a friend to play with. She's had her own PC since she was 3. She also plays softball, soccer, and chess. Generally, she only resorts to the tv or computer when she can't find a friend. She's an only child, so this is somewhat of a concern, but so far, hasn't been a problem.
My local has a full section of vampire romance, so I guess it's staying current with the times. Which I guess is the challenge for libraries these days, staying current with the times. Their reference sections are pretty much obsolete thanks to the internet. If digital books ever really become lendable, then things will really change.
Back to the subject at hand, I don't know that a maker space is a great fit for a library. It appeals to (I think) a very small segment of the population. It depends a bit on what people are thinking of making. Personally, I make furniture and software, and my basement is my workshop for both. The software studio doesn't need a community space, and the woodworking isn't suitable for the public either. 50% of time in the woodshop is spent on cleaning and maintenance (sharpening, calibration, etc.). A scrapbooking space at the library would probably draw 10 times as many users.
I'll second Ubiquiti. I'm shooting a 1 mile link (dish mounted indoors, shooting through several trees!) from my house to my office with a nanobridge. In fact, I'd recommend it to your users. I can hit access points all over my neighborhood, if I were so inclined. For the users that park the RV for months at a time, it's the way to go. Rotate the dish until you've found the desierd access point, and life is good.
The point I'd like to make is that WiFi is a 2 way process. You can load your park with carrier grade equipment, but it'll only do so much if your users are just working on a laptop with a built in antenna (inside the metal walls of their RV).
It is unethical to try to impose your opinions on others. I'm looking at you herbivores.
Most of the vegans that I know make no attempt to impose their lifestyle on anyone else. Maybe your experiance is different. PETA is a fringe group that does not remotely represent the typical vegetarian or vegan. Vegans can be kind of fussy, though. Apparently serving something that is only 95% vegan is considered unacceptable. Who knew?
I personally have no issues with meat. Cows aren't out in the pasture composing poetry. They're little more than machines that turn grass and corn into meat and manure.
Of course. It's just that ordering an exchange of passwords is completely unacceptable. All you need to do is issue a subpoena on Facebook for the relevant information. I constantly remind my users to never ever divulge their passwords, not even to me, as conveniant as that might be sometimes. Frankly, I wouldn't want to log in to someone else's Facebook account, just for fear of accidental settings changes and things like that.
Call it FUD or call it what you will, I haven't seen enough acceptance of Silverlight to get me to switch my development in that direction. It's a shame, really, as that would make my job much easier. So, I stick with ASPX pages (in part because the app is already written there) and I'm becomming better acquainted with javascript to handle some of the feature requests my users have. And for the record here, there is no video in my application.
Dude, it's not an actual product. It's a piece of concept art. It's not intended to be functional. It's designed to appeal to urban hipsters so that they can feel like they are ecologically responsible. Or something. The same ones who keep a compost container on their apartment counter despite the fact that they have no garden to use it on.
That's ok, I am going to scoff at the new polaroid. One area where they sold a lot of film was the construction industry. You'd go out to bid on a job and you'd take 2-3 pictures to show where equipment was going to go. Didn't need a great picture and didn't have time to go get film developed. It was a great way to get things done. While I'm sure some people will love these new cameras (mostly grandparents and children, I think), I just don't think the volume will be there. On the other hand, it's not my money on the line here, so let's see what develops.
Hmmm, can't tell if you're trolling or serious. The article contains insufficient information to reach a conclusion. There are two major probabilities: intimidation and paranoia, and I can't venture an opinion as what might be more likely. Assuming intimidation requires facts not in evidence. It has yet to be proven that these devices were planted by the government. Depending on his cousin's involvement in the drug trade, there could be any number of other sources for these devices. Frankly, the one clamshell device looks rather amatureish. I'd expect better packaging and concealment from the FBI or DEA.
However, I don't wish the improbability of this specific story to undermine the discussion of the real issue at hand: that it's completely unreasonable for the goverment to be planting these devices without first obtaining a search warrant.
Is anyone actually manufacturing these things? Because that's the hard part. Tooling, quality control, even just the cost of the steel. Then put them to use and find out what doesn't work, what breaks easily. Caterpillar, Kubota, and other heavy equipment makers are in business because they've got a decades of experiance building things and they also have the manufacturing infrastructure. You could take a Cat bulldozer apart and clone it piece by piece. That's not very difficult. Reliably producing them cost effectivley on an industrial scale? Forget about.
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If you ever find yourself at Disney World, check out the Carousel of Progress in Tomorrowland. Walt was a hardcore futurist and designed this one himself for the 1964 world's fair. It starts in the year 1900 and moves forward 20 years at a time with each time period marveling at how wonderful things are and wondering how people possibly lived without all the modern conveniance.
I was born in 1976, and I feel rather fortunate to have grown up while computers were growing up at the same time. As a child, I had an Apple ][e. Around 8th grade, we got a 386 for Dad's business, in high school, I bought my own 486 ($1400 - money I earned working at Burger King). At the same time, I went from Apple BASIC to QuickBASIC to Turbo C/C++ and MASM. The biggest challenge back then was finding books or teachers or anyone who knew more than I did at the time about programming. In the early-mid '90s, a Barnes and Noble opened up near enough for me to get to, and they had 2 whole shelves of computer books.
In any event, I seriously wonder how modern kids pick up programming, given the learning curve today. It seemed so easy to start 25 years ago, taking a BASIC listing and deconstructing what each line did. I think if you were to take away the modern electronics and give kids an Apple ][ or C64, you'd quickly find out who the natural programmers are. The rest would just go outside and play football instead.
Very well, C# (a language) is a very excellent language. It can be used for server side scripting, just like PHP. Same with Java. However, it's generally assumed that your language of choice is going to be couple with some sort of framework. The great thing about Java and C# is that the skillset is easily transferable to areas outside of writing web pages. This is very important for me, as my application is more than a web page. It's an ecosystem of several applications that work together; emailing reports, collecting data, managing billings, etc. It allows me to reuse code and have one data access layer for all of my programs ensuring that they access the database in a uniform fashion. I don't know if it's possible, but I certainly don't know anyone personally who is writing desktop LOB applications using PHP.
On a related note, Silverlight is an awesome platform. I won't touch it or use it because I don't think it has a future, which is unfortunate. It's certainly easier, faster, and more elegant that writing ASP.NET web pages. Frankly, web development sucks, and I look forward to a day (and I'll probably be retired by then) when there's a good universal client/server paradigm that's not based around HTML and JavaScript.
The guys making > $50k are not the guys comming to your house hooking up the cable. They're the guys hooking up and dealing with the CO equipment and other pieces of provider side equipment. The guys coming to your house are typically classified as low-voltage cabling installers. In most states, they don't need a license for that. In any event, I haven't had a phone/cable guy come inside my house in over a decade. There's just no need for that.
Well, of course. They still support it, they just don't want to announce that they support it and all the bad press, gamer retaliatation and vigilante attacks (ie., anonymous) that that implies, so they hide behind an industry trade group.
Oh, no, I like stadium seating. It's great, especially when I'm taking my kid to a movie. My point is that most people will choose a cheaper ticket and concession price over certain amenities. Clearly my viewpoint is based on the rigorous scientific research of me casually observing behavior at a few local cinemas. It would be nice to develp a calibration curve comparing attendance with ticket/concession prices, travel distance and other factors. Absent that, it's pretty clear that people will go to a rundown 8 screen theater if it means saving $2.50 on a ticket and $5 on a concessions.
And I'm not even going to get into the economics of second-run theaters.
So they have to pay an extra $3, wear glasses they shouldn't need to see a film where the picture is not as bright as it could be? Instead of special glasses, just cover one lens with a piece of paper. You can put me into the crowd that hates 3D (foreground images split apart on me. my eyes hurt after about 20 minutes).
Also, Ebert may be right here. Locally, we have a theater that has $6 prime time seating ($4 off peak), comparatively cheap popcorn (still pricey, but half the price of other theaters), no stadium seating, no 3D, and it's always packed. It's the only place I go, and I buy the popcorn there just on principle.
I'm not sure who the OP is getting his DSL service from, but it's probably not Century Link (formerly Qwest). From the beginning, Qwest offered a choice of ISPs with their DSL service. The newer, higher speeds (anything above 1.5mbps) only goes over MSN. This is a consequence of the DSL equipment that they are now using, not any overt attempt to screw over their customers (that's just a happy bonus to them). In any event, I had a a static IP with Century Link and MSN. It's not advertised, and it was a bit of work to find it and set it up, but it's there (and it only cost me an extra $5/month). There are a few stray pockets in the Twin Cities that are served by other phone companies, so the OP may be correct, but I'm kind of doubtful. Now, I did switch off from CenturyLink/MSN for something cheaper and faster as of about 2 months ago, but at that time, the static IPs were still available.
It's called multitasking. Electronic devices have been doing this since the 1960s. There is absolutely nothing special here. I've been making VoIP calls on my computer since the mid 90s. Guess what? I could switch to another program without breaking the call. The fact that this all fits in my pocket now is nothing special. Oh, but this takes input from a touchscreen. I guess that's different and no one else is making those.
When I think back on the many great accomplishments of this man, there is no doubt that he will have the longest and greatest obituary ever written. A short exceprt:
The only man known to have shot 18 consecuative holes-in-one during a round of golf. In 2007, Kim Jong Il led the New England Patriots to a perfect 19-0 NFL season. In addition to his sporting exploits, Il was a noted Internet expert. Known for releasing the worlds first internet worm. His fame exploded when he devised a method of breaking public key encryption. He is believed to be the sole author of the Windows Vista operating system.
I'm in awe of this man.
Answer this: what, exactly, do you think Apple is afraid of? If the Galaxy Tab were so dangerous, you'd expect demand for it to be phenomenal, right? Well, reality doesn't quite agree here.
Your assertions are so thoroughly contradicted by reality, they appear little more than the ravings of a lunatic.
Apple is afraid that the tablet market will mimic what happened in the smartphone market. Sure, there are plenty of iPhone loyalists, but Android has taken over as the top platform. The same thing appears to be happening in tablets. Apple was there with a premium product at the beginning, but the Android imitators are catching up rapidly. What differentiates phones at tablets from the iPod market is that phones and tablets don't get the same benefit from the iTunes ecosystem. This brings us back to the 7" tablet market, the Fire has everything that people want: Facebook, Netflix, and periodicals and shopping from Amazon. Amazon provides for tablets what iTunes provides for music, and generally at lower cost.
The issue in this case, however, is that there is a vicarious liability for publishing the untrue statements of an anonymous source. If you read the rest of the judge's decision, it continues by stating that her status as a journalist is irrelevant because the Oregon shield law explicitly does not protect sources in libel and defamation civil suits. Whereas if she gives up her source, she's off the hook for libel, unless she knew prior to publication that her source was lying. Really, the judge was sloppy here for making a ruling outside of the scope required for the case.
No, the defense against libel would be to have it proven that what she wrote was untrue.
And no, she shouldn't go down for libel, unless it can be proven that what she wrote was untrue, and that she knew it was untrue before writing it. Simply saying, "That's libel!" should NOT be justification enough to require someone to reveal their sources.
This being a civil case, however, the standard of proof is perponderance of the evidence, which only requires the plaintiff to show that she probably knew she was publishing something untrue. Also, she's representing herself, and as the old addage goes, probably has a fool for a client.
Then you probably need a better antenna. In most cities the broadcast towers are all clustered together allowing for directional antennas to work. I have, however, lived places where they were scattered all over town (Richmond, VA) and it was impossible to get good reception on more than 3 stations at a time.
In any event, I get by on broadcast and Netflix. $10/month isn't bad.
It's a good framework, particularly for the kinds of things I do. In addition to the website, I've got an assortment of server processes for processing incomming information and there are several library collections we've developed that get used across the board. .NET, I think, is particularly useful if you need more than a web app.
Agreed. Helpdesk is also the easiest place to get highered. From there, it's usually a matter of getting yourself attached to the type of work you really want to do -- networking, development, DBA, whatever. There are limits to what you can learn being self taught. You can run a server at home, but you don't have a SAN. You can use source control by yourself, but it's very different working on a team. And lastly, formal classwork will introduce you to important concepts that you would never get around to learning on your own. I started out self taught, helpdesk, picked up some Microsoft certifications, started doing some programming for my department, and got about halfway through a CS degree before my kid was born and it's kind of stalled out since then, but I'm doing quite well.
It would be more than adequate for most of the servers in my rack. Granted, I'm moving in the direction of virtualization, but I need to get a better storage infrastructure. That brings me to another question, where does one go to get an updated education on server/stoage technologies? I'm primarily a programmer, but being a small shop, I do everything, and my server knowledge is kind of lagging behind.
I'm not terribly worried. My kid is 8. She's a gamer. She loves getting email from grandma. And if she spends too much time in front of the screen, she eventually will get up and find a friend to play with. She's had her own PC since she was 3. She also plays softball, soccer, and chess. Generally, she only resorts to the tv or computer when she can't find a friend. She's an only child, so this is somewhat of a concern, but so far, hasn't been a problem.
My local has a full section of vampire romance, so I guess it's staying current with the times. Which I guess is the challenge for libraries these days, staying current with the times. Their reference sections are pretty much obsolete thanks to the internet. If digital books ever really become lendable, then things will really change.
Back to the subject at hand, I don't know that a maker space is a great fit for a library. It appeals to (I think) a very small segment of the population. It depends a bit on what people are thinking of making. Personally, I make furniture and software, and my basement is my workshop for both. The software studio doesn't need a community space, and the woodworking isn't suitable for the public either. 50% of time in the woodshop is spent on cleaning and maintenance (sharpening, calibration, etc.). A scrapbooking space at the library would probably draw 10 times as many users.
I'll second Ubiquiti. I'm shooting a 1 mile link (dish mounted indoors, shooting through several trees!) from my house to my office with a nanobridge. In fact, I'd recommend it to your users. I can hit access points all over my neighborhood, if I were so inclined. For the users that park the RV for months at a time, it's the way to go. Rotate the dish until you've found the desierd access point, and life is good.
The point I'd like to make is that WiFi is a 2 way process. You can load your park with carrier grade equipment, but it'll only do so much if your users are just working on a laptop with a built in antenna (inside the metal walls of their RV).
It is unethical to try to impose your opinions on others. I'm looking at you herbivores.
Most of the vegans that I know make no attempt to impose their lifestyle on anyone else. Maybe your experiance is different. PETA is a fringe group that does not remotely represent the typical vegetarian or vegan. Vegans can be kind of fussy, though. Apparently serving something that is only 95% vegan is considered unacceptable. Who knew?
I personally have no issues with meat. Cows aren't out in the pasture composing poetry. They're little more than machines that turn grass and corn into meat and manure.
Of course. It's just that ordering an exchange of passwords is completely unacceptable. All you need to do is issue a subpoena on Facebook for the relevant information. I constantly remind my users to never ever divulge their passwords, not even to me, as conveniant as that might be sometimes. Frankly, I wouldn't want to log in to someone else's Facebook account, just for fear of accidental settings changes and things like that.
Call it FUD or call it what you will, I haven't seen enough acceptance of Silverlight to get me to switch my development in that direction. It's a shame, really, as that would make my job much easier. So, I stick with ASPX pages (in part because the app is already written there) and I'm becomming better acquainted with javascript to handle some of the feature requests my users have. And for the record here, there is no video in my application.
Dude, it's not an actual product. It's a piece of concept art. It's not intended to be functional. It's designed to appeal to urban hipsters so that they can feel like they are ecologically responsible. Or something. The same ones who keep a compost container on their apartment counter despite the fact that they have no garden to use it on.
That's ok, I am going to scoff at the new polaroid. One area where they sold a lot of film was the construction industry. You'd go out to bid on a job and you'd take 2-3 pictures to show where equipment was going to go. Didn't need a great picture and didn't have time to go get film developed. It was a great way to get things done. While I'm sure some people will love these new cameras (mostly grandparents and children, I think), I just don't think the volume will be there. On the other hand, it's not my money on the line here, so let's see what develops.
Hmmm, can't tell if you're trolling or serious. The article contains insufficient information to reach a conclusion. There are two major probabilities: intimidation and paranoia, and I can't venture an opinion as what might be more likely. Assuming intimidation requires facts not in evidence. It has yet to be proven that these devices were planted by the government. Depending on his cousin's involvement in the drug trade, there could be any number of other sources for these devices. Frankly, the one clamshell device looks rather amatureish. I'd expect better packaging and concealment from the FBI or DEA.
However, I don't wish the improbability of this specific story to undermine the discussion of the real issue at hand: that it's completely unreasonable for the goverment to be planting these devices without first obtaining a search warrant.
Is anyone actually manufacturing these things? Because that's the hard part. Tooling, quality control, even just the cost of the steel. Then put them to use and find out what doesn't work, what breaks easily. Caterpillar, Kubota, and other heavy equipment makers are in business because they've got a decades of experiance building things and they also have the manufacturing infrastructure. You could take a Cat bulldozer apart and clone it piece by piece. That's not very difficult. Reliably producing them cost effectivley on an industrial scale? Forget about.